The World Games are an international multi-sport event comprising sports and sporting disciplines that are not contested in the Olympic Games. They are usually held every four years, one year after a Summer Olympic Games, over the course of 11 days. The World Games are governed by the International World Games Association, under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee.
The 2009 World Games the eighth edition of the World Games, were an international multi-sport event held in Kaohsiung, Taiwan from 16 July 2009 to 26 July 2009. The games featured sports that are not contested in the Olympic Games.
Matthew John Cowdrey is an Australian politician and Paralympic swimmer. He presently holds numerous world records. He has a congenital amputation of his left arm; it stops just below the elbow. Cowdrey competed at the 2004 Paralympic Games, 2006 Commonwealth Games, 2008 Paralympic Games, 2010 Commonwealth Games, and the 2012 Paralympic Games. After the 2012 London Games, he is the most successful Australian Paralympian, having won thirteen Paralympic gold medals and twenty three Paralympic medals in total. On 10 February 2015, Cowdrey announced his retirement from swimming.
The 1981 World Games were the first World Games, an international multi-sport event, and were held in Santa Clara, California, United States. The games featured sports that were not included in the Olympics, including tug-of-war, racquetball, baseball and softball, artistic roller skating, roller hockey, roller speed skating, finswimming, karate, women's water polo, bowling, bodybuilding, waterskiing, casting, badminton, trampoline, powerlifting and taekwondo. Best estimates for attendance figures were that about 80,000 spectators witnessed the first World Games.
The 1985 World Games were the second edition of the World Games, an international multi-sport event held in London. Three main venues were used, the main one being the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre. The opening ceremony was held at the Wembley Conference Centre. The master of ceremonies was television commentator Ron Pickering. Competitors were addressed by World Games Association President Dr Un Yong Kim, who told competitors, "the World Games is an innovation that deserves a warm welcome." Games Patron Ryoichi Sasakawa underwrote the financial shortfall to enable the Games to take place. British Olympic Association Chairman Charles Palmer opened the Games on behalf of the British sports community. The song "World Game" by John Denver was adopted as the theme for the Games. Sports included field archery, taekwondo, karate, sambo, powerlifting, finswimming, roller sports, casting, korfball, water skiing, speedway, fistball, softball and netball. The ground team at Crystal Palace was headed by former Nottingham Forest player Roy Dwight with assistance from Tosh Chamberlain. Television coverage was produced by Cheerleader productions. Commentators included Simon Reed, Martin Tyler, Gerald Sinstadt and Dave Lanning.
The 1989 World Games, commonly known as Karlsruhe 1989, were the third edition of the World Games, an international multi-sport event. This edition was held in Karlsruhe, West Germany.
The 1993 World Games, the fourth World Games, were an international multi-sport event held in The Hague, Netherlands.
Zoran Primorac is a retired male table tennis player from Croatia. He is a two-time winner of the World Cup and one of only three table tennis players to have competed at seven Olympic Games. His highest ITTF world ranking was number 2, in 1998.
Dylan Armstrong is a Canadian athletics coach and retired competitive shot putter. He is the 2008 Olympic bronze medalist, a two-time World Athletics Championships medalist, a two-time Pan American Games champion, and the 2010 Commonwealth Games champion in that discipline. He was awarded his Olympic bronze medal in 2015, seven years after the event, following the doping disqualification of competitor Andrei Mikhnevich.
The 2013 World Games, the ninth World Games, were an international multi-sport event held in the city of Cali, Colombia, from July 25 to August 4.
The 1997 World Games, the fifth World Games, were an international multi-sport event held in Lahti, Finland on August 7–17, 1997. The opening and closing ceremonies took place at the Lahti Sport Centre.
Matthew "Matt" Benedict Walker MBE is a British swimmer who has participated in four Paralympic Games, winning eleven medals. He competes in the S7, SM7 (medley) and SB7 (breaststroke) classifications.
Evan George O'Hanlon, is an Australian Paralympic athlete, who competes mainly in category T38 sprint events. He has won five gold medals at two Paralympic Games – 2008 Beijing and 2012 London. He also represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, winning a silver medal and a bronze medal respectively. In winning the bronze medal in the Men's 100m T38 at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai, O'Hanlon became Australia's most successful male athlete with a disability. His bronze medal took him to 12 medals in five world championships – one more than four-time Paralympian Neil Fuller.
Ellie Victoria Cole, is an Australian retired Paralympic swimmer and wheelchair basketball player. After having her leg amputated due to cancer, she trained in swimming as part of her rehabilitation program and progressed more rapidly than instructors had predicted. She began competitive swimming in 2003 and first competed internationally at the 2006 IPC Swimming World Championships, where she won a silver medal. Since then, she has won medals in the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, the Commonwealth Games, the Paralympic Games, the IPC Swimming World Championships, and various national championships. Following the 2012 London Paralympics, where she won four gold and two bronze medals, Cole underwent two shoulder reconstructions and made a successful return to swimming at the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships, winning five medals, including three golds. She subsequently represented Australia at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics, the 2018 Commonwealth Games, and the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. In claiming her seventeenth Paralympic medal in Tokyo, Cole became Australia's most decorated female Paralympian with six gold, five silver and six bronze medals from four Paralympic Games.
This is the all-time medal table of the World Games as of the 2022 edition. In the history of the games, Russia has led the total medal count four times, and Italy three times. The United States have claimed that honor twice, while Germany also led the overall count twice in 1993 and in 2022. Ranked by gold, then silver, then bronze:
Thomas Farnik, born 6 January 1967 in Vienna, is an Austrian rifle shooter.
Great Britain competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom, from 29 August to 9 September 2012 as the host nation. A total of 288 athletes were selected to compete along with 13 other team members such as sighted guides. The country finished third in the medals table, behind China and Russia, winning 120 medals in total; 34 gold, 43 silver and 43 bronze. Multiple medallists included cyclist Sarah Storey and wheelchair athlete David Weir, who won four gold medals each, and swimmer Stephanie Millward who won a total of five medals. Storey also became the British athlete with the most overall medals, 22, and equal-most gold medals, 11, in Paralympic Games history.
The 2017 World Games, commonly known as Wrocław 2017, was the tenth World Games, a major international multi-sport event, meant for sports, or disciplines or events within a sport, that were not contested in the Olympic Games, held from 20 to 30 July 2017 in Wrocław, Poland. The World Games were organized by the Wrocław Organizing Committee. Wrocław was selected as the host city in January 2012 in Lausanne, over Budapest, Hungary. It was the first time The World Games was organised in Poland.
The World Games sports comprise all the sports contested in The World Games.
Brayden Duane Davidson is an Australian track and field para-athlete who competes mainly in the T36 classification events. He won a bronze medal at the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships. At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, he won the gold medal in the Men's Long Jump T36.
Harald Mæhle (NOR)
Chris Korich (USA)
Erwin Meindl (AUT)
Ola Spang (SWE)
Hywell Morgan (GBR)
Wiebold Visser (GER)
Jan Luxa (CZE)
Iwana Inukai (JPN)
Janusz Paprzycki (POL)
Martin Hayes (AUS)
Slaveyko Slaveykov (CAN)
Robert Meszaros (SVK)
Peter Hässig (SUI)
Guido Vinck (BEL)
Marko Popovic (CRO)
Tom Martens (NED)
Marianne Kosonen (FIN)